The visits have been suspended since 6 June 2007, following a decision by the Israeli authorities.

"It is impossible to understand that such a decision is taken solely on security grounds. Family visits to Israeli prisons have been organised for decades and they have always been subject to thorough security checks by the competent authorities, as is currently the case for residents of the West Bank. There is no reason for this six-month suspension of family visits for Gaza residents," says Christoph Harnisch, the ICRC's Head of Delegation in Tel Aviv.

The suspension affects some 900 detainees from Gaza held in prisons in Israel. According to international humanitarian law, detainees have the right to maintain family links, including visits from close relatives.

In addition to being without any personal contact with their families, the detainees have been running out of sufficient clothing, since their families used to bring them new clothes on a regular basis. The ICRC recently distributed warm clothing to the concerned detainees.

With the exception of one prison, Palestinians are detained in prisons located inside Israel. Therefore, the ICRC set up its family visit programme in order to facilitate direct family contact. An average of 20,000 family members travel monthly to prisons inside Israel.

In November, the ICRC conducted 32 visits to 15 Israeli places of detention, including interrogation centres, provisional detention centres, police stations and prisons. There are currently over 11,000 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.